Emma
Thompson wrote the screenplay for this odd little gem about an odd-looking
nanny (Thompson) who magically teaches five lessons to seven unruly children.
Emma Thompson, whose previously
screenplays include Wit and Sense & Sensibility, brings a
similar degree of literacy to this effort pitched at a younger audience. As
well as adapting a trilogy of books by Christianna Brand, she plays the title
role, though you might not realize it to look at the grotesque makeup
effects applied to her. Colin Firth is the other star. A kind widower raising
seven kids alone, he’s proven inadequate to the task. We might now call him
overly permissive, but this is back in England, a somewhat art-directed England
like the one at the beginning of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in a
time before Dr. Spock and cosmetic dentistry. The kind widower’s children have
driven away 17 consecutive nannies with their appalling behavior. The scenes of
hurly-burly that establish this point are not really so different from the ones
in Yours Mine and Ours and the Cheaper by the Dozen movies (and
that’s three remakes I’ve referenced). Yet I found them so much less annoying
here. One thing different, besides the setting, is that this odd little gem is
told much from the point of view of the young folks, less from that of the
exasperated grown-ups. At the same time, it doesn’t seem like a “kids’ movie.”
Adult problems with money and family relations (specifically a half-wicked aunt
played by Angela Lansbury) intrude. The adults sometimes use words that kids
(the ones in the audience, too) won’t likely know. At the same time, they will
be able to easily follow and delight in the story of the mysterious nanny who
teaches the children five lessons with the help of her magic cane.
posted 9/17/13
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